Founded in 1987 by Daniel Johnson, the Texas Early Music Project is dedicated to preserving and advancing the art of Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, and early Classical music through performance, recordings, and educational outreach.

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So, while March comes roaring in like a lion bundled up in down and scarves, I really must thank all of you who supported TEMP and other nonprofits during the Amplify Austin campaign! Your generous contributions will help us present another spectacular concert season for 2019-2020 and will help us continue and “amplify” our education programs in Austin-area schools. I think the final totals for Amplify Austin Day were about $11.2 million (for 740 local organizations) and TEMP came in #18 among the Arts and Culture organizations with 58 donors who helped us reach almost 80% of our goal!

THANK YOU!

I think you will see the results on the concert stages and in our outreach programs!

Speaking of concert stages, we hope you are keeping track of the calendar and are making plans to come to our Tudor concert: It’s epic, both in the planning and the musical scope.

Here’s a little snippet from our concert of Eton Choirbook/Tudor music back in 2007 and recorded on our Sacred CD:

A symphony of voices, 26 a cappella voices in this case, works in the same way an orchestral symphony might: There are thickly colorful choral tutti sections alternating with starkly transparent solo lines, hypnotically static harmonic rhythms alternating with florid vocal lines that are full of subtle virtuosity, resplendent with both shimmering beauty and unexpected dissonances resolving quickly to more beauty. This is the tradition of the Eton Choirbook, compiled between c.1490 and c.1510, during the transition from the late Medieval to the early Renaissance in England, which set the path for English choral music for generations. TEMP explores a few of the breathtaking masterpieces from the Eton collection as well as music from the contemporaneous English court.

Thanks to boosts from popular culture on television and in movies, more people than ever are aware of and interested in the very important Tudor court of Henry VIII. During the time during which the Tudors ruled England—almost 90 years, from 1509 until 1603—England’s importance in the world increased dramatically and English musical and artistic culture became more important. In addition to small masterpieces from prominent composers like Robert Fayrfax and William Cornysh, we will perform a least one work written by Henry VIII, who received lessons in music and languages from an early age as a part of the standard curriculum for royal children. He played harp, lute, recorder, harpsichord, and organ. Though some of his best-known compositions are lively and roughly hewn, a much larger percentage of his works are rather intimate and delicate pieces written with obvious care and skill. (No, he did not compose Greensleeves. Who starts these rumors?) Most of his compositions can be dated to the early part of his reign (1509-1547) and can be found in the so-called “Henry VIII manuscript,” which dates from about 1520.

Join us for a beautiful and moving concert that will illuminate the passage from the late Medieval to the early Renaissance with passion and beauty and soothe the souls of 21st century audience members.